#reypen

[og-penelope-eckart]

i only use tumblr to lurk and atp ur the sole acc im even reading. love all ur hcs and breakdowns and love the eckcest specifically<333 would love to hear ur thoughts on a reynold route

The Lady's Love Project sounds like it could be one of those games that have a recommended route order and locked routes. I can imagine that Reynold's route is availible from the start wheras Vinter's route is among the most spoiler heavy and only unlocks after the player has completed at least two or three other routes. His route is probably among the "easiest". The deaths that were directly caused by Reynold were mostly accidents or crimes committed under the influence of emotion. I think the player would have to focus more on accident preventation than in other routes (like when Cha Siyeo threw away the fork and removed anything sharp with which she could be killed). The route could include minigames where the player might have to look out for and remove a trigger which sets off intricate chains of events resembling Rube Goldberg machines that lead to a creative and gruesome death of the player.

Another important way to survive Reynold's route is to learn what moves him and the key to that might be found in the past. I think Derrick and Reynold's routes would implent liberally flashbacks in form of dreams or nightmares. At a touch of an object of the past (like the locket) Penelope would be send back to a memory of the past. Reynold's route would be about untangling misunderstandings, finding forgiveness and overcoming grief. It would be a coming of age story centered around Penelope and Reynold as they navigate their family conflict, awkwardly attempt to learn how to be good siblings until they realize they want something more and experience the shock of their first love together. As the route progresses the player must succeed to incite a positive change in Reynold and drastically change his worldview or he will continue to struggle into adulthood. Reynold won't mature into a responsible adult if he keeps waiting for Ivonne in the past, instead of walking with Penelope towards the future.

I feel like the romance would be alot more toned down and the majority of the time would be spend on fixing their sibling relationship before the story suddenly picks up and turns romantic towards the end. Reynold's route would be one of those where players would complain that there was too much plot and too little romance or that the romance was rushed towards the end. I could imagine that in the bad/normal ending Penelope would take Reynolds advice and pretend to be a good substitute for Ivonne and she would be miserable but Reynold would pretend not to notice. There could be an ambiguous ending where the Duke was forced to dissolve Penelope's adoption, because the evidence for her "crimes" was too incriminating but not enought to sentence her to death and after a timeskip an epilogue would play out where an older Reynold with a flower bouquet would ring at the doorbell of her tailor shop. Rather than going down the path of a magician Penelope might hone her skills as a marksman in Reynold's route and convince him to let her train under his instructor. A civil war between Callisto and the Second Crown prince could break out or the Delman rebellion starts, Derrick is killed and Reynold becomes the new Eckart heir and Penelope has to support him in his new role as the new leader of the Eckart army. They would train and fight side by side together with sword and crossbow. They might die together in battle or commit double suicide in another bad ending.

The Villain

In Callisto's route, Penelope sides with him in the conflict against the Second Crown Prince, but remember the family had previously remained neutral and in another route they might actually side with the second prince. Derrick would lean towards the second crown prince, because he would believe he can be reasoned with unlike his insane brother. (Derrick would absolutely project his own sibling issues onto Callisto and his wish to destroy him might be enhanced by his wish to destroy Penelope.) I could actually see Reynold back up Callisto under certain circumstances. I headcanon the brothers as total opposites. Derrick: reactionary, Reynold: revolutionary. Derricks wants to follow into his father's footsteps, keep upholding old, dusted traditions and the status quo. Reynold could be made into an archetypical storm and stress hero. He is all youth and youth's desires, hope, passion, indignant strenght cry from within him for change and greater human freedom from despotism. The brothers are bound to clash in their own routes. I would take their differences and as Reynold and Penelope's relationship improves, Derrick and Reynold's would crumble.

Derrick would be against Reynold/Penelope and this is where the game would scatter hints that Derrick might have feelings for Penelope. Reynold's decision to pursue Penelope would cause a huge rift between the brothers. Derrick might cite the law and would threaten to withold Reynold's part of his inheritance should Reynold decide to move outside his jurisdiction to be legally wedded to Penelope in another dukedom, or worse remain a bachelor and live with Penelope as husband and wife who are married in their hearts only and sire numerous bastards. Should Penelope become a victim of another conspiracy, Reynold would struggle to collect enough evidence on his own to prove her innocence and would turn to his older brother for help. In a normal ending, he might agree to a deal where he will give up on Penelope if Derrick saves her from certain death and they will have to part ways as this would be the only way for the two not to succumb to their feelings. Penelope, unaware of this secret agreement, might believe Reynold has abandoned her when he agrees to finally marry the woman that his father had chosen for him.

If the player had made the mistake of raising both affection meters, Renyold's route might branch off into Derrick's route or lead to a bad ending where Derrick noncons Penelope. Reynold might be roped into the conspiracy and is the one who dies and Derrick blames Penelope for ruining both of their lives. Penelope might be saved last minute from execution and her punishment transformed to slavery or a home confinement for the rest of her life (or both). Can you imagine what this would do to Derrick? Being able to own Penelope?

The minor villains of Reynold's route would probably be servants, I think this time Penelope would listen to Reynold and kick out Emily and look for a maid together with Reynold who might give her one of his maids, which would bring them closer. Since Reynold is training alongside the knights, it would make sense if there was an episode where some ugly things they did to Penelope were revealed and they were bought to justice be Reynold. As for the main villain in Reynold's route, I don't think it'd be Derrick per se (maybe he'd be a misguided grey character?). He is a character who creates problems for the main couple, because he is jealous of Reynold obtaining the happy ending with Penelope he could never dare to imagine for himself, but I think the author would go for a sibling tragedy rather than making Derrick, who has already lost a sibling, desire to end the life of his last blood sibling. He would never want to kill Reynold, only if his hand was forced, like in times of war on opposing sides (and even then he would try everything to sway his mind and save him first). His warnings against Penelope might come from a genuine place of concern. He would believe that woman will be ruinous to his brother. Except for one bad ending or two he won't touch Penelope. He has his own route for that.

Honestly Reynold's route is a route where I cannot imagine Ivonne to come back and reveal her dark side, because Leila is such a spoiler bomb that I feel like she would be reserved only for Vinter, Callisto and maybe Iklies' route. Having her as a main villain in all routes would be a bit repitive. It could go many ways, the only thing I'm certain is that Reynold's route would not be anything like Callisto's. Gotta keep your readers on your toes.

[jeweled-blue-eyes]

How do you think Derrick would have reacted if Penelope was asked out by a nobleman who actually likes her and wants to know her and Penelope is happy about it and agrees.

Do you think Reynold harboured any feeling for og Penelope since he was a capture target. How would their relationship grow

I've already talked a bit about this scenario here. I can see it go two ways: 1. Derrick is relieved to be rid of her only to regret it when it's too late, 2. Derrick would be against a marriage citing Penelope's immaturity and lack of education as a reason. They can't hand Penelope over when she hasn't yet learned how to run a household and host parties as it would only embarass the family name if she were to fail her basic duties. He would have enough reasons to suspect an ulterior motive for any advances made at her (the Eckart's wealth, the noble family name) and would investigate every suitor throughly in hopes he could dig up dirt on him and prevent a marriage. That means he might stalk their dates and harrass Penelope. I can image Derrick trying to make Penelope believe her fiance doesn't love her back and is obvously just using her/going to abuse her once he has married her. Penelope needs her father's blessing for her marriage and the Duke isn't likely to give it to her if Derrick makes him believe that she isn't safe and treasured by her fiancé. The only AU where he would support them was if a marriage would be the only thing saving her from an execution, but even then he might want them to divorce afterwards. Tbh I see Derrick more as a "if I can't have you, no one can." Claude Frollo type of character, so he might prefer for her to die rather than marry someone else.

Personally I don't think Reynold harboured romantic feelings for og Penelope and I'd prefer it if he didn't. Penelope deserves one brother who isn't lusting after her. Nothing like that has been hinted in the story. I really do view him as the most brother coded character (not in a good way mind you). If he had bullied her because he was secretly in love with her, it would have just been a repitition of Derrick's trope. I headcanon Derrick and Reynold as two different sides of abuse. Derrick is emotionally abusive and Reynold physically. Derrick can only love Penelope romantically, he is incapable of loving her in a way that doesn't involve lust, that doesn't objectify and dehumanizes her as his possession, while Reynold could've loved her platonically if not for Derrick. Wheras Derrick's abuse is much more subtile and harder to spot it's actually much more dangerous and damaging, because it poisons every relationship around Penelope. Derrick can only "love" her as a lover and Reynold can only "love" her as a replacement of Ivonne. What both brothers demand from her is incompatiable with each other. There is no winning. She's being punished either way. If she fullfills the expectations of one brother, she is met with hatred and disgust by the other brother.

I assume this ask must have been send in response to the Reynold & Penelope post I made. Let me elaborate on this idea a bit. It wasn't really meant as a shippy post where Reynold would have developed a crush on Penelope or vica versa. It was me speculating how Derrick's manipulations would have affected Penelope's worldview. How Penelope would pay men with her body when she wants something. How she thinks it's okay to initiate something sexual with Reynold because that's how her relationship with Derrick functions. Penelope will give Derrick kisses, lets him touch her etc, and in exchange he must shower her with gifts and the love that she knows deep down doesn't exist. At first she isn't even aware that it's sexual, she just understands that when she does this and that Derrick will be pleased with her and reward her. It makes her uncomfortable at times but it doesn't hurt her that much, so she thinks it's a kind of suffering she has to endure to get her compensation. Over the time she gets used to it and expects this method to work on Reynold too. She does it when she feels lonely, when she wants attention, gifts, it's also a trauma response that she displays when she needs to diffuse a situation.

For example I can picture a situation where Reynold is angry and Penelope climbs on his lap, kisses him and starts unbuttoning her blouse to "calm him down" and Reynold would be horrified and disgusted at her. His face would turn scarlet red, he would yell at her, push her away or slap her face and call her a pervert. Derrick would use this incident to justify what he is doing to her. He can't ruin her if she was never pure. Unlike those delicate noble girls whose virtue needs to be protected, Penelope is a dirty commoner girl with no known father, a war orphan who leeches of his father's wealth and only causes trouble. She doesn't deserve any rights. Such a girl can only be inherently rotten. It's in her nature. That Penelope's hypersexual behaviour might be caused by his grooming doesn't even cross his mind.

Reynold might panick when he sees Penelope and Derrick in the same room together. He would make a rude remark to make her angry and leave the room, he would play cruel pranks on Penelope to scare her away, he would in the evenings often lean in her doorframe to complain about her existence. If he's always around her and putting her in her place nothing weird can happen, right? In a way that would be his version of protecting her. Reynold would lack empathy for Penelope's situation but at some subconscious level he would understand that his elder brother is hurting her althrough he can't name why. It's easier to blame the victim, because it wouldn't force him to question his beliefs. At some point he might have even believed that this 12 year old is abusing his 18 year old brother and not the other way round. That by hurting Penelope he is protecting his brother and vindicating him. This might be where he got the idea that Penelope must have seduced the duke in order to get adopted. Penelope was harrassing him, so who's to say this isn't how Derrick got dragged into this mess? Penelope stole his sister's place, she tried to steal his father's love and now she has stolen his brother away from him just like she has taken everything else.

I think Reynold would be in denial of the situation. I also think Derrick would gaslight him like crazy about it. Eventually when Reynold brings up the topic, Derick would make him look like he was out of his mind. He'd say something like "If you see two siblings spending time with each other as inherently sexual, perhaps you are the one who has secretly been desiring her all the time. / Should I be worried about your relationship to Penelope? If you hated her so much why do I often see you walking up and down next to her door in the evenings? Suspicious."

In summary I don't view Reynold as someone who would fall for his stepsister naturally, but I don't find the idea that Reynold could start a relationship with Penelope impossible if other factors were involved. As I mentioned before, I think that both Reynold and Penelope are ridiculously easy to manipulate. In this AU Penelope would have learned that getting brotherly love is impossible if it doesn't also come with sexual love. And she's very desperate to be loved. Reynold might adopt Derrick's attitude..partly. 14 year old Reynold might've looked up to Derrick and copied some of his behaviour. When Derrick and Penelope enter a relationship, it might cause him to feel left out. Reynold's mother died, his sister was kidnapped, his father became emotionally unavailible, his brother is well...Derrick. They didn't seem particulary close. Ivonne might have served as a bridge between them but now that's she's gone and not even their hatred for her replacement can connect them anymore, he has nothing. He would want to be let into their secret until he realizes in horror what this secret entails.

I once read a story where a brother coerced his twin into sleeping with their little sister after their twin discovered their relationship and wanted to tell their parents. The twin might have had romantic feelings for her as well but held back because he knew it was wrong or his brother's manipulations made him doubt himself and he believed that he was just like his brother since he "enjoyed" it. Either way he started to believe he was an awful person and tried to hide what they did from their parents because now he thought of himself as a criminal too. This is the only way I could imagine Reynold x Penelope to happen actually. That to secure Reynold's silence Derrick would have to resort to making him an accomplice.

Derrick would hate it the whole time and he'd be insanely jealous, but it'd be the only way to get Reynold's absolute compliance. In the long run gaslighting Reynold, invocating his authority as the heir and convincing him to keep quiet to maintain the family peace and protect their family's reputation wouldn't work.

I have troubles how to come up with a trigger where Derrick/Penelope & Penelope/Reynold can come into being. Reynold would have to be grieving or drunk or drugged. In any way he'd have to be not fully lucid in order to entertain even such idea. Even if Derrick were to leave the picture then, Reynold and Penelope might fall back on hierarchies, roles and learned pattern. They wouldn't sleep with each other because they love each other like lovers. They'd sleep with each other because they are lonely and traumatized teenagers. Because this is normalicity to Penelope and the only kind of comfort Reynold knows to offer her. It would be interesting for them to try and struggle to overcome their trauma and become a real family.